Speaking on RTÉ's News at One, Facebook Ireland's Gareth Lambe said the company established its Dublin HQ four years ago with 30 people.

By the end of this year, it will have 500 workers based in the capital.

He said there was heavy growth over those four years and he hopes and expects that to continue into the future.

Mr Lambe said if the business and user growth continues to grow the way it has been, then he sees no reason why Facebook would not continue to invest in Ireland.

He said there were many reasons why Facebook originally chose to locate in Ireland, but cited the main reason as the ability to hire people with the right skills to run a multilingual high-tech office servicing all of Europe, the Middle East and Africa.

Announcing the jobs this morning, Minister for Jobs, Enterprise and Innovation Richard Bruton said: "ICT is a key sector targeted in the Government's Action Plan for Jobs.

"We are determined to build on the major successes in this sector in recent years, in particular by supporting the further development of the thriving cluster around Dublin's docklands.

"Today's announcement of a significant expansion by one of the biggest companies on the internet, with the creation of 100 high-end jobs, is a major endorsement of the tech environment in Dublin and further confirmation of our city's status as the internet capital of Europe."